Wednesday, January 1, 2014

"The Bells Ring Out, The Year Is Born"

Yesterday afternoon, in a United States Post Office, I heard Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis being played over the lobby loudspeakers. I don't know what to make of this.

For New Year's Day, I had thought to post Ernest Dowson's "The Old Year," which contains the lines "There you lie, with your sick, scarred visage,/Who were once so fair to see." And so on. I intended to pair it with a poem by John Clare which begins thus: "The Old Year's gone away/To nothingness and night."

But the miraculous appearance of the Fantasia in governmental space -- a Post Office lobby, of all places -- has provoked a change of plan. Mourning the departed year is no longer appropriate. The world has changed overnight. Well, I shouldn't get too carried away. Still . . .

Charles Napier Hemy, "Pilchards" (1897)

So, rather than "The Old Year," we shall shift to "The New Year."

The New Year

The bells ring out, the year is born,
And shall we hope or shall we mourn?
Shall we embrace the young, new year,
Or shall we turn back lingering eyes,
To the low bier,
Where in his pall the old year lies?

What shall he bring to men who weep,
To men who laugh and men who sleep,
So very weary of the sun?
Shall one of these men ever gain,
Ah even one,
His heart's desire nor find it vain?

Hope not, fear not: he only bears
The message of the elder years!
A little love, a little pain!
To some a sweet or idle dream,
To some again,
The sleep wherein we do not dream.

Ah sweet, my child, and yet mine own,
Though I must wander on alone,
Love me a little, clasp me still
With thy soft hands, and I will bear
For good or ill
The burden of the coming year.

Mr Pentz, how very fortunate you are to hear such a wonderful piece of music in your Post Office. Over here you are lucky if you ca n even find a Post Office as so many of them have closed down.I like the Shoha haiku very much.A very happy new year to you.